They came in
at last. But Lady Clonbrony had no reason to regret for their sake the
statira couch. It would have been lost upon them, as was everything
else which she had prepared with so much pains and cost to excite their
admiration, They came resolute not to admire. Skilled in the art of
making others unhappy, they just looked round with an air of apathy.
'Ah! you've had Soho!--Soho has done wonders for you here! Vastly
well!--Vastly well!--Soho's very clever in his way!'
Others of great importance came in, full of some slight accident that
had happened to themselves, or their horses, or their carriages; and,
with privileged selfishness, engrossed the attention of all within their
sphere of conversation. Well, Lady Clonbrony got over all this, and got
over the history of a letter about a chimney that was on fire, a week
ago, at the Duke of V's old house, in Brecknockshire. In gratitude
for the smiling patience with which she listened to him, his Grace of
V--fixed his glass to look at the Alhambra, and had just pronounced
it to be 'Well!--very well!' when the Dowager Lady Chatterton made
a terrible discovery--a discovery that filled Lady Clonbrony with
astonishment and indignation--Mr.
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